The field of the present invention is athletic shoe designs.
Generally, athletic shoes are shaped in conformance with the human foot and the exterior surfaces thereof tend to be curved. Curved exterior surfaces, however, tend to reduce the efficiency of the shoe in sports where the shoe is used for intricate control of an object, such as a ball or a bag. For instance, in the sport of footbag, foot control is very important. A footbag is a generally spherically-shaped, soft bag approximately 2 inches in diameter which is filled with hundreds of small elements, such as barley seeds or plastic pellets. A participant in the sport is allowed to propel or control the footbag with any part of the lower body and thus the most frequently used propelling agent is the participant's foot. Athletic shoes which have generally curved exterior surfaces tend to cause the footbag to be propelled in erratic directions, thus reducing the ability of a participant to control it. Moreover, being generally curved such athletic shoes generally possess no well-defined impact surfaces. The same drawback exists in the sport of soccer.
Particularly problematic is the instep portion of the shoe which typically comprises a concave compound surface. Although object control can be improved where a convex surface is present (as in the toe area) by visually approximating the anticipated rebound path of an approaching object, such visualization is difficult where a concave surface such as the instep is involved. Moreover, because the instep curves beneath the top of the shoe, the surface thereof often cannot be seen by the wearer unless the foot is positioned at an extreme angle. Accordingly, in sports where an important factor is the ability to control an object with the exterior surfaces of an athletic shoe, including the instep, conventional athletic shoe designs may not be suitable. Even specially-adapted athletic shoe designs have limited effectiveness. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,221,985, 2,107,667, 4,123,856 and 4,149,325 and U.S. Design Pat. No. 251,757 disclose specially adapted athletic shoe designs for kicking. Each design, however, employs curved exterior surfaces in accordance with conventional shoe design.